ECEC services urged to help spread the word and keep children from flu risks

Children with chronic lung diseases are at a higher risk of flu hospitalisation, yet uptake of free flu vaccinations is low, prompting researchers from University of NSW to call on early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to share the message with parents of children with chronic illness, in a bid to keep them out of hospital.

Efforts to prevent children with chronic lung disease from being hospitalised due to influenza need to be “stepped up”, the researchers said, following a study which found that children with underlying lung conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and other congenital chronic conditions are at least five times more at risk of being hospitalised with influenza than other children.

The study, which looked at a cohort of 11,058 children with chronic lung diseases residing in NSW, found that not only are children with chronic lung disease substantially more at risk of hospitalisation from flu, but the average cost of these hospitalisations is almost four times more expensive.

The cost per episode of influenza-associated hospitalisation was $19,704 for children with chronic lung diseases compared to $4,557 for children without.

In addition, 13 per cent of children with a chronic lung condition hospitalised with influenza required referral to another hospital for ongoing care compared to 7 per cent without.

Dr Nusrat Homaira, lead author of the study, said that despite the fact that vaccination against influenza is free for children with chronic lung conditions, unpublished data suggests uptake is low and more needs to be done to encourage parents of children with the condition to take advantage of the service.

“Influenza is a vaccine preventable disease and Australian children with chronic lung disease are entitled to free flu vaccination,” Dr Homaira said.“However the uptake – particularly in children with asthma – is reported to be very low. Our research suggests that current efforts to prevent flu in children with chronic lung conditions are either suboptimal or ineffective.”

Dr Homaira and her co-authors said an immediate first step is to look for ways to improve vaccine uptake, prompting ECEC services to play their part in sharing this information with their parent and carer communities.

“Vaccination against influenza is highly recommended for children with chronic lung conditions and the vaccine should be repeated every year for these children” Dr Homaira says.

The research paper was published in the Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses journal.